


Darkness of Paradicia

by RevieWriter



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-07 15:02:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3176554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RevieWriter/pseuds/RevieWriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>short beginning for a campaign I've had bouncing around my head for a while.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Darkness of Paradicia

The roaring of drunk adventurers is thunderous, and wears upon your already strained patience. You and your friends had come to Central only days ago – young, ambitious and ready to make a name for yourself. Central was everything you had ever imagined it to be; merchants lining the wide streets, selling things that has never graced the stalls of your home towns in The Fields. At every crossway enormous statues towered over the crowds, depicting famous adventurers who had protected Omphalos and its mighty cities from destruction time and time again. Oh! You knew that one day you would be there standing proud and forever honored. You weren’t just some kid from The Fields, you were a hero in the making! You just needed a chance to prove it! It was so simple – just a chance, and you would have exterminated rats in a dungeon or beetles in the sewer; but what you didn’t realize when you left home was that Central was filled with adventurers, so any pest was squashed before it ever became a problem. Now you and your friends sit at a worn and beaten table in a bar full of those who are living your dream, spending the last of your savings on your last meal in Central. You will return to The Fields tomorrow and hope your parents will not kill you for running off on a fools dream of becoming more than what you were born to be: a farmer.  
“HO!”  
You shrink down in your seat, hoping that the enthusiastic man cutting his way across the bar has not seen you yet.  
“HO! My young friends! Tis I! Sir Amadeus Pernicious Iniquitous! Tis a good night, say you not?”  
Your brief moment of good faith is dashed as his hand claps against your back. Sir Amadeus is not a bad man. In fact, he made much of this whole ordeal easier for you, going out of his way to welcome you to Central, introducing you to all the local quest givers and even getting you a discount for the room you have been sleeping in. That’s what makes it hard to see him now when you’re admitting defeat. It almost feels like you’re disappointing him, after all the work he put into helping you achieve your dream. You had agreed that it was best to not tell him. Perhaps he might assume you had finally left on your own adventure; he was an optimistic sort of guy. The silence grows thick as you cannot seem to find anything to say, frustration gluing your jaw shut and regret weighing your tongue.  
Sir Amadeus stands quietly for a moment observing your tired and defeated bodies, then pulls up a chair and sits beside you.  
“I see that you are all feeling a little frustrated,” he begins, “But you must not give up…”  
“We have no choice!” Kestrel suddenly shouts. “We have no more money! We HAVE to admit that we are not meant to be here! There is no place here for farm kids dreaming of being heroes!” Kestrel is the youngest of your group and the one that was hit the hardest by homesickness. In the beginning, she was just as excited as any of you to escape the routine of chores and the tedium of farm life, but setback after setback has worn her enthusiasm to a nub.  
“Kess is right Sir Amadeus, we don’t really have a choice,” Denzel agrees while carefully trimming his talons. Denzel is a Carroway, a sort of crow people who once lived in The Fields before they were turned to farmland. Despite his heritage, he has been your brother for longer than you can remember, and to see him like this makes you wish you had kept your mouth shut and never told him about your silly dreams.  
Amadeus’ frown quickly fades into an enormous grin, and you’re almost tempted to punch him when he declares, “Is that all? This minor trifle is easily cured, for you see, I, the mighty and courageous Sir Amadeus Pernicious Iniquitous –” here he paused dramatically glancing quickly at your faces – “have acquired you a quest!”  
There is a full measure of stillness, as if the world and time itself had stopped turning. Then Clark springs out of his chair with a ‘WHOOP’ of excitement and suddenly you all begin to speak at once, clamoring to ask Amadeus where, what and how?  
“Be calm my young friends, we will discuss the details in the morn. For now let us celebrate! To your first adventure – let it be an undertaking worth remembering!”


End file.
